Juggling a job with responsibilities of caring for aging parents or other individuals with needs is a strain on the millions of working Americans now doing it, but it also comes with added pressure at work.
Alexandria, Virginia-based The Society for Human Resource Management interviewed caregivers, and among those working, 20% said they have been treated poorly at work because of their outside caregiving responsibilities, and 22% said there is a negative stigma around being a caregiver at their workplace.
“There was an underlying assumption that because they had this additional outside responsibility, they would not be able to take on more challenging opportunities at work. Another area was just a lack of feeling included. People may assume that they did not have extra time to do certain things,” said James Atkinson, vice president of thought leadership at SHRM.
There are currently an estimated 53 million family caregivers in the U.S., and two-thirds of them are working full- or part-time jobs, according to AARP. They face difficult decisions and make sacrifices that affect their professional lives and personal finances.
The caregiver drain will grow, largely with an aging population that depends on family support, with 18% of working caregivers expecting to take on new or additional caregiving responsibilities for elders, and 13% who are not currently caregivers expecting to take on eldercare duties within the next five years.
“On average, caregivers are unexpectedly missing about 1.2 workdays every single month. That translates into about $17.5 billion in wages lost every single month due to inadequate support for caregiving,” Atkinson said.
To manage those responsibilities, many caregivers sacrifice their professional careers, with 28% in the SHRM survey saying they have cut their working hours, and 14% changing jobs for more flexible opportunities.
Some caregivers end up quitting to prioritize their duties, whether short-term or long-term. For those, eventually returning to the workforce, it brings other challenges. One of them is explaining the gap in their work history.
“When we asked HR professionals what was their first instinct when they see a gap on someone’s resume, nearly half told us that it’s because they felt like that person just wasn’t able to get a job,” Atkinson said.
Nearly two-in-three unemployed caregivers plan to reenter their workforce eventually. SHRM said that underscores the importance of inclusive hiring practices.
SHRM has published two reports, Care and Careers: Navigating Caregiving and Work Responsibilities, and The Caregiving Imperative: Organizational Solutions for Supporting Caregivers and Elevating Business Performance.
The latter spells out ways companies can address the flexible needs of their caregiving employees. Doing so may run the risk of creating resentment among employees who are not juggling caregiving responsibilities outside of work. Atkinson said that requires addressing flexibility needs of all employees, not just a specific group.
“I think the key way to do that is to make sure you are providing a breadth of benefit options. Not every benefit is going to be applicable to every single part of your workforce because people have different needs. But as long as, as an organization, you are considering that wide range of needs across your workforce, then you should be able to maintain that fairness overall,” he said.
SHRM notes many businesses do offer short-term solutions, but those are not sufficient for the vast majority of caregivers. Its survey found 80% of caregivers report responsibilities lasting more than one year, but only 35% of HR managers feel their company adequately addresses long-term needs.
SHRM’S extensive survey included more than 7,300 HR professionals, working and currently unemployed caregivers, and workers currently without caregiving needs.
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